It had been an avalanche that took her wing.
Her cave had been built into the sheer face of a cliff side, passed on to her from her grand-sire. For the past three centuries the massive cavern had been perfect for her hoard. Someday, once she had found the right mate, it would be perfect for hatchlings as well. But what wasn’t perfect was the water that had eroded away the foundation. Resulting in a massive cave in.
In a way, she had been lucky. She had been saved by a human rescue squad before she died of thirst or hunger. However by the time they had reached her, freed her, and brought her to medical treatment at the dragon reserve, infection had set in. Her right wing had been unsalvageable.
It’s been three weeks since she awoke after the cave in. It’s been three days since she last stepped out of the human shelter that was now her home. It was not much more than a massive barn. Well made, with large wooden beams, a comfortable stone floor, and the southern side received plenty of sunlight for basking. It was everything a dragon could ask for. Except the doors and windows remained shut. Any visitors were turned away. Even food was ignored. The humans on the reserve were getting anxious about her behaviour. She could hear their whispers and muttering from across the forest, even over the pitying of her fellow drakes.
Knocking on the door of her barn shook her from her from her musing. The dragoness only bothering to flick her tail and curl tighter in the darkness of the barn. To her surprise the unwelcome visitor did not leave like all of the previous, but instead knocked one of the doors open wide and entered. The dragon swallowed her instinctive growl. Even the most reckless of humans knew better than to step into a dragon’s territory without an invitation. Meaning the intrusion was likely intentional. So, stubbornly, the dragoness refused to give the wingless nuisance it’s obviously desired reaction.
There was a long pause before the human spoke, “Nice place you got here. A little dark, but not bad.”
The dragon stayed silent.
“It’s a bit stuffy though. How about we open some of these windows?”
The human sighed, a slight squeak suggesting movement, “Look. You don’t want me here, I frankly don’t want to be here either. I’m just the idiot that works here for community service. But I’m not going to just let you starve yourself to death like everyone else back at the station. So it’s time to get off your big scaly butt and start actually doing dragon-things again.”
Against her will, the dragoness growled, “And what would you, a human, know about ‘dragon things’?”
The human snorted, “Well to be honest most of you just lay around on gold all day. Seems boring to me but then again I’m not a dragon.”
“You know nothing!” The dragon hissed. Scales prickled as they stood on end, claws gouged into the stone floor. “You know nothing of a dragon’s pride. The thrill of hunting, fighting, protecting what’s yours. Of flying! Having the world below you, at your feet!”
The human said nothing but the dragons rage continued to build uncontrolled.
Faster than should be possible for a creature of her size, the dragoness twisted around to face the human. Smoke leaked from between fangs of ivory as she hissed.
“You know nothin-” but her rant was cut short as her eyes adjusted to the light coming from the open doorway behind the human.
The human was male, short blonde hair shining golden in the light, offset by his dark brown eyes. However it was the wheelchair that caught the dragoness’ attention. She knew what it was of course, but she had never seen a human so… broken before.
As if hearing her thoughts the human raised a single brow. “What? Never seen a paraplegic?”
The dragon said nothing, only snorting a whiff of smoke from her nostrils.
Unbothered by her silence the human wheeled his chair closer, “You’re wrong you know. I might not know what it’s like to be a dragon, but I know what it’s like to fly. It’s a great feeling, nothing else quite like it. And I also know what losing the ability to do it feels like too.”
The human stopped only an arms length away and smiles at her. “I was once in the airforce after all.”
The dragon peered closer at the little human, ignoring the metal chair. As a fighter, and a flier himself, perhaps this human could understand what she had lost.
“They call me a worm,” she muttered. “Like a wyrm.”
The human raise its brow once more, a small scoff falling from his mouth. “The other dragons you mean? So what?”
The dragoness growled slightly, “There is a reason wyrms are looked down upon by other draconian races. They have no wings, no ability to fly, and that makes them lesser.”
With a chuckle the human leaned back in his chair, “I don’t think the wyrms give a damn. They still have poisonous breath and even camouflage to make up for it.”
“You are missing the point,” the dragon hissed, irritation rising again.
Ignoring her ire the human shook his head. “No. You’re the one missing the point. Just because you’re missing a wing doesn’t make you lesser. You’re still a god damn dragon!”
The dragon stared at the human as it glared and bared it’s blunt teeth at her.
“Who cares what those other drakes say?! Just because you can’t fly doesn’t mean you aren’t still a badass, scaly, fire breathing, tank, with claws and teeth and a hoarding problem. You are still a dragon!”
Slightly winded from his anger the human slumped into his chair. The dragoness stayed silent, thinking over what the human had said before speaking.
“Do all humans know how to give such pep talks?” She drawled sarcastically.
The human snickered, “Probably not. I just have a big mouth.”
The dragoness snorted in agreement, which only made the human laugh. “So how about instead of sulking in here you come over to the main station. You have some food and what could be salvaged from your hoard waiting there for you.”
Perking up at the mention of her hoard the dragon stood, slowly following the human as he wheeled himself out of the shelter. “Some of it survived?”
“Yup. Just like you did.”
